


pied piper

by thrice



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Modern AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-10-05 03:01:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20481758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thrice/pseuds/thrice
Summary: “You suck, Gil,” Anne replies, turning back to her locker, but even someone as headstrong as she is couldn’t resist him and his cliched charms no matter how hard she tried.Or the tale of two rivaling students in Avonlea Senior High School are put together for a lab project, unraveling feelings buried deep where no one could notice (and for good reason).





	pied piper

Anne is practically swimming in homework and occupational duties. And she hates it. 

Well, if she were honest, she hates everything in her life right now, really, and you know what doesn’t make it better? A pitiful, idiotic, nuisance of a boy named Gilbert Blythe who makes it his _mission_ to annoy the living daylights out of her.

He’d pass by her desk and make a notion to show his A+ paper while avoiding eye contact, a smirk confidently curling up his lips. Dark chocolate eyes flash onto her own, gleaming with pride. Confident, stupid asshole.

”Confident, stupid asshole,” She says to Diana. “I hate him. I hate him, I hate him, I hate-“

”Him. We get it, you hate Gilbert Blythe, calm down. He’s just one of many people in this school. Why are you so fixated on him?” 

“Fixated? Why do you say it like that?”

”Because you are.” Diana frowns.

”I’m not-“ Anne starts, as Gilbert walks into the room on cue. He points at something his friend is holding, and they all burst into synchronized laughter.

**

Her anger, she was sure, was growing.

When they were assigned to be lab partners, Gilbert plopped into the chair next to her with a pair of goggles lazily strapped across his eyes and face, and said, “Let’s just get this over with.”

”Hmph.” Anne hmph’d. “Fine. And just so you know, this doesn’t mean anything.”

Gilbert laughed. “What the hell are you talking about? This wasn’t our choice. We were paired together.”

Something about that laugh made her heart feel all weird. Probably more annoyance, she figured. ”Still,” Anne said, turning back to her complicated microscope thingy, looking down into the bit of blobby germ that was squirming around in there. It seemed to squirm towards the right, far from her stickler-for-rules lab partner.

Even Mr. Bacteria wanted to get away from Gilbert.

**

Sometimes, late at night, she thought of Gilbert.

His eyes. His stupid brown eyes, and his swoony smile, and his hair too, oh god. She’d fantasize about running her hands through his hair, until she stopped that fantasy really quickly.

It didn’t make sense. She didn’t like him like that. She hated him, and he hated her. She thought that the both of them made that pretty clear.

So if that were true, then why was her stomach becoming a new home to a flurry of butterflies?

Nope, nope, and nope. She hated him. And that was that.

**

Diana thought it was funny. 

“Finally the shirbert ship can sail!” Diana exclaimed, half sarcastic and half not. They were walking across the track in gym, as a snicker threatened to escape her rosebud lips. “Maybe if yall got to know each other, you wouldn’t be hating each other as much as you do. Hate with air quotes around it, that is.”

”The _what_ ship?” Anne asks incredulously.

”You know..” Diana struggles to find her next words. “Shirley, your last name, and Gilbert, which makes...” She pauses for effect, and for Anne to finish the last of the statement, wiggling her eyebrows.

”Gross!” Anne protested. “We’ve talked about this, Diana. I don’t have feelings for Gilbert! He’s a stuck-up, bratty, idiot boy.”

”That’s not very nice, you know.” The voice of said idiot boy says all of a sudden behind them.

He catches up with the two of them pretty fast, but she doesn’t turn to look at him.

”Hey Shirley,” He teases.

Anne keeps walking.

Gilbert scrunches his nose. “So you’re just gonna ignore me? We’re lab partners. And I need your help now.”

”Go away.” Anne says under her breath.

“Listen-“ He then takes one of her pigtails and yanks them. “Carrots.”

Which is where Anne loses it. 

“Ow!” Anne cries, pushing Gilbert to the ground and walking away. But walking very quickly turns into running until she’s pulling a Usain Bolt and running the hell out of there. As she runs, she yells, “_I’m not talking to you!_”

Diana titters nervously and runs to catch up with her, leaving a guilty Gilbert watching them disappear.

**

She couldn’t help but keep thinking.

_Why would he do that? How could he do that?_ She fought tears as she sat in detention for her little stunt. 

_How could it hurt so much? _

It shouldn’t, and it confirmed her theory that she, Anne Shirley Cuthbert’s life was as unfair as unfair could get.

And that sucks.

**

While they did their lab, they kept their conversations as academically strict as possible, so not to talk to each other about anything else, or anything at all. This made their teacher praise their quietness and work ethic to the rest of the class, turning it into a lecture, which made for an embarrassing five minutes.

**

”_Dear Anne_,” Anne palms the note stuck inside her notebook when she wasn’t looking in her hands as she hovered by her locker on Monday morning. “_I’m very sorry._”

_I’m so sorry, really. I guess I just wanted your help and I wasn’t in the best of moods so I took it out on you. I know we haven’t liked each other for a while now, but I’ve realized that all this time, that wasn’t true. _

_I realized that I like you. And that I’ve might’ve liked you forever._

_I don’t know, honestly. You don’t have to read any further, because I know you probably don’t like me back. So you can just disregard this and throw it in the trash._

A mixed feeling of excitement and pure joy bubbled in her system, and she quickly squashed it. Stop it, she told herself. But she couldn’t.

She didn’t want to think about him. About what happened. And how he makes her feel deep down. But she couldn’t, she can’t.

“So I see you didn’t throw it away.” Anne suddenly hears as Gilbert’s footsteps skid to a stop by the neighboring couple of lockers, his presence making her heart race like crazy.

_He’s here_, she thinks. _He’s actually here._

Some weird part of her inside wanted to run into his arms, but she very quickly and swiftly told it to shut up.

“You suck, Gil,” Anne replies, turning back to her locker, but even someone as headstrong as she is couldn’t resist him and his cliched charms no matter how hard she tried.

So she did whatever any lovesick person in her situation: fight it. And it fight it as hard as one possibly could.

”Like I said,” Gilbert looked down at his shoes. “I’m sorry. I was horrible to you. Not just the hair pull, which was out of line, but the teasing and the showing off. You don’t have to forgive me, I just wanted to tell you-“

But one can only be as strong for so long.

”I forgive you,” Anne blurts out.

A smile spread across Gilbert’s face, his eyes gleaming bright. Goddamn it, Anne, what happened to strength. And any bit of it left, disintegrated and crashed and burned until all was left was the two of them, together.

Anne cleared her throat rather loudly. “What I mean is, you’re still an asshole, but I pity you, so I’ll give you a chance. And maybe-” She took a deep, cleansing breath, “Maybe I can help you with whatever you needed help with.”

”I can deal with that,” Gilbert laughed.

“Hmm,” Anne said, but even she was smiling.

With that, the two of them walked to homeroom on the same beat, as Anne profusely apologized for pushing him to the ground, and Gilbert made a comical comment about her strength and anger.

**

Although her hectic teenage life was still a mess, there was some bright spots in it.

Diana, definitely. Even though she was a little weird about her and Gilbert being a thing, still calling it shirbert (because they’re sweet like sherbert, ha, get it), she was still her best friend and she was pretty great as best friends go.

Although it would be even more great if her boyfriend could hurry up with the pizza and ice cream that he promised to get the pain out of studying for finals.

Where _was_ that guy, anyway.

As if he heard her thoughts, her house bell rang.

“I’ll get it.” She calls, and runs down to from the steps to the door.

”Slow down!” Matthew scolds, and she does, switching to fast walking.

Her hands grasp the door which she opens with a flourish, and standing there next to a box of pizza and a carton of rocky road ice cream, stood Gilbert.

Just like that, that same feeling of excitement and joy bubbled up inside her, and this time, she didn’t try to stop it. Heck, she embraced it.

”Gil!” She cried, running to his arms à la romcom, and that sweet laugh of his escaped his lips whilst the wind chimes by the front porch and flurry of October wind sung them a song, as he held his former rival close.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> bicarpenter.tumblr.com  
twitter.com/femmetan


End file.
